Red Faction: Guerilla Vehicle Trailers

Share this:

The swollen internet marketing thorax of THQ has disgorged another pair of Red Faction trailers for you to crack open with a click, and then discuss, as medieval crones might have discussed the entrails of a chicken. Does the chunky scenery speak prophecy of a genuinely destructible world? Does the game footage of much shootiness tell of glad tidings, or bad? It’s hard to be clear. Consulting the terrifying RPS crystal ball, we are forced to say that we’ll wait ’til we get some more hands on time, and then – only then – make final, immutable judgment.

The demo was pretty good, but one thing I noticed was a complete lack of terrain destruction — the only thing you could destroy was the buildings. Granted, that part was very well done, but being able to blow holes through walls with explosives that don’t effect the terrain at all seems a little odd, and compared to the first game, a step backwards.

I mean, they could be doing that to stop people from just tunneling everywhere, but still. Although I must say I’m pretty excited to hear that it’s going to be an open-world/sandbox style game, with the war going on around you.

Yeah I’m guessing if they included terrain destruction with the open world design, that could end up a bit of a mess. I played the demo on the 360 about 10 times in a row and thought it was a lot of good silly fun. I was let down by the lack of demolition charges you could set at once though, hoping that was either a demo limitation, or something you can fix in the PC version. In general the potential for mods on a PC version is really exciting.

Personally, I like to look at the skies the day of a game’s release to see if a hawk is attacked by sparrows, or an eagle captures a fish for my game-related judgments. RPS should learn the intricacies of augury for their own edification.

While I fear for the quality of the PC version (which could be fine, or terrible, depending on how good the outsourced company are), I will be buying either it, or the 360 version.

Why?

Because I played that demo through about five times back-to-back, doing things differently each time, and finding new and fun things to do with physics. Tons o’ fun, and the fact that the full game is a huge open-world thing with (apparently) multiplayer that includes all the features of singleplayer.. well, I’m in.

I’m not upset in the slightest about the lack of terrain destruction this time round, because the game isn’t set underground anymore. It’s all surface-based, and there’s not much reason to dig there. There are, however, thousands of buildings that you can take apart in meticulous detail.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that you can individually pick out the sides of a window frame without damaging the wall. And then you detonate the charges you set and take out all the supporting walls, and get to watch as the whole thing collapses inwards.

Edit: Also, those vehicle videos are pretty naff. Here’s a full-length preview from Gametrailers that sums things up pretty well.

I enjoyed the demo on the 360, however I thought the actual shooting part of the combat seem quite limp. And despite all the destruction you could cause, it all felt rather lacking in oomph. I really enjoyed the on the rails chase scene at the end though as you blasted away at your pursuers from the back of that truck.

The demo was fantastic. I’ve played it over and over since its release. There’s a little footbridge somewhere in the demo and I like to smash the stairs out on either side so they cant chase me over it ¬_¬

Chaz: The shooting felt weak because you’re using the weakest guns in the game, unupgraded. One of the developer walkthroughs shows off some of the later weapons, including a Thermobaric Rocket Launcher (takes out the entire side and most of the interior of a four-storey building in one shot) and a black hole grenade, which is just as powerful as you’d imagine. And the Nanogun, which dissolves whatever you point it at, steel and flesh included.

There’s also the backpacks – like a jetpack, a portable earthquake generator, and the Thrust pack, which turns YOU into an unstoppable projectile, able to just headbutt your way through solid walls.

Having seen these in action, I have no doubt that there will be plenty of shooty fun to be had. Just not with generic assault rifles and shotguns.

Moonracer: As far as I can figure, the full game is freeroaming, but once you begin a mission (you have to literally select ‘start mission’ upon entering the correct area) you’re locked in there with enemies on high alert (normally they’ll just ignore you unless you attack them) until the mission is over.

And regenerating to full in ten seconds is a good thing, because you can die in three seconds on Hard mode (or less if you’re standing near something explosive). A couple of bursts of fire is all it takes to put you down, and those are the weakest grunts in the game. The developer video I saw showed the hero with a more armored outfit, and about five times as much health. I imagine you’ll need that later on.

And knocking buildings down is easy because it’s not just a regular sledgehammer – it’s a high-tech kinetic hammer! Also, it’s super-fun, so don’t complain about it. From the looks if it, the hammer is the weakest of the demolition tools anyway, although it’s at least free to use.

As for largest buildings – there’s one video where they show streets of 4+ floor high apartment blocks, and another one with big military type hangars, which are pretty huge. Also, huge smokestacks with you can topple to crush other buildings, or create makeshift bridges (as they’re hollow).

Really, just go over to Gametrailers. There’s enough gameplay footage there to answer most questions.

That demo was much-hyped and generally disappointing. It reminded me of 2001 and some of the weak output for the then-young PS2. Like Oni and… Red Faction.
Can’t aim down the sight on your weapon? Really? Is this a modded open-world Team Fortress from like 1998 with blurry graphics and characters that kinda float across the ground? Yes.

The idea of Iron Sights (aiming down the barrel) has always made me laugh, even if it’s in a game I enjoy. The way the gun is invariably placed dead center on the bottom of the screen makes me think of the hero bracing his weapon against his chest. It’s a viable method if you’re using a real gun (why else would the sights exist?), but in games it always looks incredibly silly. The fact that 1 out of every 2 shooting-focused games uses it these days mystifies me.

That being said, I enjoyed being able to zoom in with a weapon and still see my character on screen, as opposed toa big image of a gun. The game (from what I’ve played in the demo) looks to be silly fast-paced fun, and the Iron Sights’ “4 times more accurate, 1/4 speed” doesn’t seem like it would fit.

Also, it’s a third-person game, so why would the player be looking down the gun in first-person?